Method of precasting masonry panels



1966 N. H. CONDER ETAL 3,231,646

METHOD OF PRECASTING MASONRY PANELS Filed Nov. 15, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1965 N. H. CONDER ETAL 31,646

METHOD OF PRECASTING MASONRY PANELS Filed Nov. 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wa Z6 United States Patent 3,231,646 METHOD OF PRECASTING MA$NRY PANELS Nathaniel H. Conder and Howard C. Harris, both of 7M W. Texas, Baytown, Tex. Filed Nov. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 324,112 4 Claims. (Ql. 264-86) This invention relates to a method for precasting brick panels.

In the past, attempts have been made to precast a plurality of bricks into a panel which could thereafter be inserted into a building wall. These attempts involved the positioning of the several bricks so that the finished panel would be in a horizontal position before the mortar was poured. The mortar was then poured on top of the brick to fill the spaces between the several bricks. The difficulty with this system is two-fold. First, there is no way for air trapped in the spaces between the bricks to escape, and there is a tendency for air bubbles to be present in the mortar when it sets up. This weakens the panel. Secondly, the mortar tends to run between the bottom face of the brick and the surface on which it is supported. This bottom face of the brick is the intended outside of the wall when the panel is turned up in a vertical position. Mortar which runs over this face of the brick must therefore be cleaned off before the panel can be used.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method for precasting brick panels in which the precasting operation is carried out with the several bricks arranged vertically one over the other, so that the several bricks are in the same position during the precasting operation as they are in when the panel is inserted in the wall.

Another object is to provide a method for precasting brick panels as in the preceding object, in which any air trapped in the mortar being poured into the panel may readily and freely escape during the precasting operation.

Another object is to provide a method for precasting brick panels with the panel in upright position in which movement of mortar from the cracks between the bricks onto one face of the panel is prevented.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the drawings, the specification and the claims.

In the drawings, wherein illustrative embodiments of this invention are shown;

FIGURE 1 is an isometric view of a support with bricks being loaded thereon;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view through the support and bricks adjacent a wall and with a porous member laid over the free face of the bricks;

FIGURE 3 is a view along the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view showing sand or other absorbent media to have been placed between the wall and bricks, and mortar to have been poured into the spaces between the several bricks and the holes therethrough to complete the panel;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view in vertical crosssection showing the trap door to have been opened and the sand dumped out and the support to have been with drawn, leaving the brick panel on its trolley;

FIGURE 6 is an isometric view showing an alternate form of support for the bricks; and

FIGURE 7 shows the manner in which the support is loaded when the bricks are arranged in interlocking design and shows the bricks arranged for a corner panel.

The first step of the method of this invention is to support the several bricks vertically in the position which they will assume in the panel. This may be done with any desired form of support structure which may be readily and easily loaded and which will engage one face of the finished panel.

3,231,646 Patented Jan. 25, 1966 The support, loaded with bricks, is placed adjacent a wall and a sheet of porous material is laid over the free face of the bricks. Then, some absorbent granular material is placed in the space between the bricks and the wall. Then, mortar is poured into the spaces between the several bricks. The porous material keeps the granular absorbent material from drifting into the spaces between the bricks and the granular material sucks the water out of the mortar and in this way prevents the mortar from running over the face of the bricks adjacent the sheet of porous material.

As soon as the mortar has set suflicient to remain in place, the absorbent media and sheet of porous material may be removed. As soon as the mortar has set sufficiently for the brick panel to be self-supporting, the support is removed, leaving the panel free-standing. After the panel has cured sufiiciently to have the desired strength, it may be transported to a location for inclusion in a brick wall.

Considering now the apparatus and method in detail, reference is first made in detail, reference is first made to the construction of the support means indicated generally at 19. In the illustrated form, this support means include a frame 11 which may be a sheet of heavy plywood. Attached to the face 11a of the frame 11 is a sheet of plastic material 12. This sheet of material may be any rigid plastic which has a smooth surface so that the mortar will not tend to adhere thereto. For instance, rigid polyvinyl chloride has been found to have an excellent surface for this service.

A plurality of parallel flanges are carried by the frame 11. In the preferred form, the plurality of flanges 13 are formed integrally with the sheet 12. With the frame 11 in upright position, these flanges 13 extend horizontally and, as will be noted from FIGURE 1, the brick are supported on the upper surface of these flanges. In order to hold the brick in place, any suitable means may be provided. In the illustrative embodiment, a plurality of hook means 14 hold the bricks in place. The hook means 14 may be provided by slender rods having a hook on their ends as shown which extend down into the holes 15 in the brick 16. The other end of the hook means is threaded to receive the wing nut 17 and suitable resilient means, such as compression springs 18, are interposed between the wing nuts .and the side of the board opposite that on which the flanges are positioned.

The frame 11 has a suitable groove 19 therein for receiving an end panel 21 shown in FIGURE 2. The end panels 21 cooperate with the frame 11 and a suitable wall 22 to provide a container.

To facilitate handling of the panel, it is mounted on a suitable dolly indicated generally at 23 which runs on track 24.

A releasable arm 25 has a support '10 in upright position. It will be noted that the support rests on wedges 26, which in turn are supported on the dolly 23. After the panel has been poured and mortar fills the space between the d-o'lly and the lower brick, these wedges may be removed to take the stress off the support it) before it i removed.

With the support 10 resting on the wedges on the dolly and held in place by the arm 25, the several bricks are loaded onto the board by positioning a brick in place as shown and compressing the spring 18 and rotating the hook means 14 to where the hook is in a down position to rest in the hole 15 as shown in FIGURE 1.

After the panel is loaded, it is moved into position relative to a wall which may take any desired construction. For instance, the wall 22 may be a brick wall.

After the wall is in position, a suitable sheet of porous material, preferably woven material 27, is placed alongshown in FIGURE 2.

While this material could be placed over the brick before it is moved into position, the placement would have to be carefully done so that the porous material would not become entangled in the trolley but would serve its function of keeping the granular porous material from getting into the trolley. Of course, if a trolley were not used, this problem would not exist, but as a trolley is preferred it is preferred to place the sheet of material into position after the panel is opposite the wall.

The .sheet of porous material 27 may be of any type of material which will prevent the granular material which is placed between the brick panel and the wall 27 from finding its way into the spaces between the several brick 16. Also, it must be such that it will permit air and water to freely pass through. Examples of suitable materials are burlap, cheesecloth, or any other woven cloth. While cloth is preferred, it will be apparent that other materials might be used.

After the sheet of material 27 is in place and the end members 21 inserted between the wall 22 and the sup! port It), the space between the wall 22 and the several bricks is filled with granular material 28 (see FIG. 4). This granular material may be any material which is absorbent so that it will absorb water from the mortar. The material should be sufiiciently small in size to pack and be in contact with and hold the porous sheet 27 firmly against the several brick 16. As not-ed above, the purpose of the sheet 27 is to prevent this porous material from passing into the spaces between the bricks. The granular material must pack to hold the sheet of material 27 firmly against the brick so that any slurry which tends to run out over the free face of the several bricks will be sucked into the granular absorbent material instead of being permitted to run down the free face of the brick. Preferably, sand such as builders sand is used, and the sheet of porous material 27 is sufficiently porou that while it will prevent any appreciable amount of sand from passing through, it will permit the sand to fillup the pores of the sheet, so that the end result is for all practical purposes a wall of sand against the free face of the bricks and in substantial contact with the mortar as it is poured into the spaces between the several bricks. This will permit the sand-to immediately suck the excess water out of the mortar and prevent it from reaching the free face of the bricks.

After the sand is in place, the spaces between the bricks are filled with a mortar slurry 29 (see FIG. 4).

. Preferably this mortar is thin enough to freely flow into all of the spaces between the several bricks. As sand is on one side of the brick, any air which is entrapped to remain inposition, the trap door 31 may be opened to dump the sand from between the panel and wall 22.

The sheet of porous material 27 may now also be removed.

At this time, the mortar will support the brick suflici-ently that the several. hook means 14 may be pushed in slightly and rotated 90". to clear the hook from the from the support means 10, the supporting arm 25 is disengaged from the support means 10, and the entire support means 10 is pulled back to separate it from the panel. It has been found that this support means will readily separate from the brick without any difiiculty, and this is particularly true where asmooth surface plastic has been used. Other smooth surface materials can be used which do not readily adhere to mortar, such as aluminunm Once the support means has been -moved, the brick panel and its trolley may be moved to a storage area to permit the mortar to cure for suflicient time to gain the desired strength before the panel is shipped to a construction site.

In FIGURE 6, there is shown an alternate form of support means. FIGURE 6 shows a support 32 having a plurality of parallel flanges 33 formed integrally therewith. For instance, the support may be fabricated from aluminum.

Instead of the hook means as shown in the other form, there is provided a leaf spring 34 which when inserted between a brick '16 and a flange 33 above the brick will hold the brick in place against the flange below the brick. The leaf spring 34 may take any desired form such that when it is forced into the space between a flange and a brick it will urge the brick downwardly against the flange therebelow with sufficient force to hold it in place.

It has been found that if mortar is permitted to flow around the spring '34, that it is difiicult to remove the springs. For this reason, it is preferred to insert between the brick and the support and between the brick and the spring 34 a sheet of thin plastic material 35. This plastic may be of any composition, so long as it is flexible to be readily inserted between the brick and the board, and has the usual smooth surface'to which mortar will not tend to adhere.

It might be mentioned in passing that the mortar 29 may take any desired composition, such as the usual Portland cement and sand mixture. Also, suitable ad- .ditives may be included to decrease the setting time, etc.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 7 in which-the support 10 is shown supporting a plurality of bricks 16 in interlocking arrangement. With this arrangement, each panel should have a toothed side so that it may be interlocked with another panel. There are two very simple methods of accomplishing this. If desired, the panel shown at FIGURE 7 may be positioned against the wall, such as shown in FIGURE 2, with the sheet of porous material 27-extending only to the line of the setback brick. That is, to the line 36. This will permit half bricks of the interlocking design to be free of the sheet of porous material. Then, when the sand is introduced into'the space between the brick and the wall 22, this sand will fill up the spaces between the bricks 16a and 16b. Thus the sand will prevent the mortar from flowing into this space. Ifperchance the sand does not completely fill the space between the bricks 16a and 16b, any mortar which finds its way into this area may be troweled out after the board is removed from the brick panel. g

As an alternative, the space between the brick 16a and 16b may have inserted therein a plastic block 37 which will completely fill this space between the bricks 16a and 16b. In this way, mortar will be prevented fromfinding its way into this space. After the support member 10 a has been removed,the members 37 may be removed bebrick, and the spring 18 permitted to retract the hook 'against the plastic sheet 1 2, as shown at the top of FIGURE 1. In practice, it will be found that as soon M as the mortar has been poured, the operator may begin to release the several hook means 14.

After all of the hooks have been removed and the mortar has set sutficiently to support the bricks standing alone, the wedges 26 are removed to-remove any stresses fore the adjacent mortar sets up to leave the interlocking brick free for interlocking with similar brick of an adjacent panel. a

It will be apparent that a corner panel may be cast in the same manner with the porous sheet of material 27 stopping at the inside of the corner to leave the interlocking brick free so that ,sandmay find its' way therebetween. In the alternative, the plastic blocks 37 may also be used.

While common building bricks have been chosen for illustration of this invention, it will be apparent that any other type of brick may be used. With the FIGURE 6 form of support, it is not necessary that the bricks have holes therein for engagement by the hook means 14. Of course, it is also apparent that other means might be used to hold the bricks in place on the support 10.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative and explanatory thereof and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may be made within the scope of the appended claims Without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. A method of precasting brick panels comprising,

supporting a plurality of bricks on an impervious vertical support with one side face of each brick against the support and with spaces between the several bricks,

relatively positioning the support and a wall to place the brick therebetween and spaced from the wall, covering the free side faces of the several bricks with a sheet of porous material,

filling the space between the sheet of material and the wall with a granular absorbent material, pouring mortar into the spaces between the several bricks and allowing it to set to bind the bricks into a panel,

separating the absorbent material and sheet of material from the panel after the mortar has set sufficiently for the mortar to stay in place,

and separating the support and panel after the mortar has set sufiiciently to support the bricks.

2. A method of precasting brick panels comp-rising,

supporting a plurality of bricks on an impervious vertical support with one side face of each brick against the support and with spaces between the several bricks,

relatively positioning the support and a wall to place the bricks therebetween and spaced from the wall,

Covering the free side faces of the several bricks With a sheet of porous Woven cloth,

filling the space between the sheet of cloth and the wall with sand, pouring mortar into the spaces between the several bricks and allowing it to set to bind the bricks into a panel,

separating the sand and cloth from the panel after the mortar has set sufliciently for the mortar to stay in place,

and separating the support and panel after the mortar has set sufficiently to support the bricks.

3. A method of precasting brick panels comprising,

supporting a plurality of bricks on an impervious vertical support having parallel flanges spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the height of a brick with a sheet of plastic material between the bricks and the support by inserting spring means between the flanges and the bricks on the support side of said sheet of plastic material,

relatively positioning the support and a wall to place the brick therebetween and spaced from the wall,

covering the free side faces of the several bricks with a sheet of porous material,

filling the space between the sheet of material and the Wall with a granular absorbent material,

pouring mortar into the spaces between the several bricks and allowing it to set to bind the bricks into a panel,

separating the absorbent material and sheet or material from the panel after the mortar has set sufficiently for the mortar to stay in place,

and separating the support and panel after the mortar has set sufficiently to support the bricks.

4. A method of precasting brick panels comprising,

supporting a plurality of bricks of the type having holes therethrough on an impervious vertical support having parallel flanges spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the height of a brick and resiliently loaded hooks extending through the support by resting each brick on a flange and extending a hook into the hole in the top of the brick,

relatively positioning the support and a 'wall to place the brick therebetween and spaced from the wall,

covering the free side faces of the several bricks with a sheet of porous material,

filling the space between the sheet of material and the wall with a granular absorbent material,

pouring mortar into the spaces between the several bricks and allowing it to set to bind the bricks into a panel,

separating the absorbent material and sheet of material from the panel after the mortar has set suflicicntly for the mortar to stay in place,

and separating the support and panel after the mortar has set sufliciently to support the bricks.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,305,687 6/1919 Burgin 264-31 1,491,205 4/ 1924 Ford 25--131 1,841,586 1/1932 Garrett 26431 2,698,536 1/1955 Robertson 25-131 2,700,295 1/ 1955 Gilde -443 FOREIGN PATENTS 327,809 7/1935 Italy.

ROBERT F. WHITE, Primary Examiner. ALEXANDER BRODMERKEL, Examiner. 

1. A METHOD OF PRECASTING BRICK PANELS COMPRISING, SUPPORTING A PLURALITY OF BRICKS ON AN IMPERVIOUS VERTICAL SUPPORT WITH ONE SIDE FACE OF EACH BRICK AGAINST THE SUPPORT AND WITH SPACES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BRICKS, RELATIVELY POSITIONING THE SUPPORT AND A WALL TO PLACE THE BRICK THEREBETWEEN AND SPACED FROM THE WALL, COVERING THE FREE SIDE FACES OF THE SEVERAL BRICKS WITH THE BRICK THEREBETWEEN AND SPACED FROM THE WALL, COVERING THE FREE SIDE FACES OF THE SEVERAL BRICKS WITH A SHEET OF POROUS MATEIRAL, FILLING THE SPACE BETWEEN THE SHEET OF MATERIAL AND THE WALL WITH A GRANULAR ABSORBENT MATERIAL, POURING MORTAR INTO THE SPACES BETWEEN THE SEVERAL BRICKS AND ALLOWING IT TO SET TO BIND THE BRICKS INTO A PANEL, SEPARATING THE ABSORBENT MATERIAL AND SHEET OF MATERIAL FROM THE PANEL AFTER THE MORTAR HAS SET SUFFICIENTLY FOR THE MORTAR TO STAY IN PLACE, AND SEPARATING THE SUPPORT AND PANEL AFTER THE MORTAR HAS SET SUFFICIENTLY TO SUPPORT THE BRICKS. 